Sunday, 3 July 2011

Teddy doudou free pattern

In France, every small child has its doudou. I've seen all sorts of doudou - anything from an old piece of blanket or pillowcase, to an elaborate multi-coloured velours soft-toy masterpiece.

A doudou is simply an easy French name for a comfort blanket. I had an idea to make a teddy comfort blanket, using my chubby teddy pattern for the head, and adding some little arms for baby to grab too. I made it out of lovely soft organic cotton, so safe for baby to suck and easy to wash by hand or machine. For extra safety, I lined the head before stuffing it, and embroidered the face with contrasting organic cotton yarn.

Here's the pattern:

I used one ball of organic cotton in pink and less than half a ball in cream. Of course you can choose the colour you wish, but in the pattern I mention pink and cream so you can follow it more easily.

I used a 3mm hook for the head and the arms, and a 4mm hook for the blanket part.

Head (the same as my chubby teddy pattern, but I'm repeating it here to make things easier for you)

Start with pink yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 4 - [2 sc in next st, 2 sc] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 5 - [2 sc in next st, 3 sc] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 6-8 - sc around (30 sts)

rnd 9 - [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 12 sts, [2 sc in next st] 3 times, sc in next 12 sts (36 sts)

rnd 10 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 11 - sc in each of next 3 sts, [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, [sc2tog] twice (36 sts)

rnd 12 - sc around (36 sts)

Change to cream yarn

rnd 13-15 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 16 - [1sc in next 4 sts, sc2tog] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 17 - sc around (30 sts)

Now is a good time to embroider the eyes, nose and mouth with contrasting yarn or embroidery thread.

rnd 18 - [1sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 19 - sc around (24 sts)

rnd 20 - [1 sc in next 2 sts, sc2tog] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 21 - [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts] rep around (13 sts)

Stuff!

rnd 22 - [1 sc in next st, sc2tog] rep around (9 sts)

rnd 23 - [sc2tog] 4 times

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the head to the blanket

Ears (make 2)

Start with pink yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - sc around (12 sts)

rnd 4 - [sc2tog], rep to end (6 sts)

rnd 5 - [sc2 tog] twice

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the ears to the head.

Arms (make 2)

Start with cream yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

rnd 2 - 2 sc in each st around (12 sts)

rnd 3 - [1 sc in next 2sts, 2 sc in next st] rep around (16 sts)

rnd 4-5 - sc around (16 sts)

now join in the pink yarn and work 6 more rows of sc.

rnd 12 - 1 sc in each of next 7sts, then squeeze the arm flat and working through both thicknesses, sc into the next 7 sts until the end: Fasten off.

Blanket

For the blanket itself you can use any square pattern you like. It would be nice with a granny square or a simple trebles square. I had some problems with the joining of each round, but I'm sure you'll do better. The square should measure around 26 cm. You can find nice square patterns here:

Sew the ears to either side of the head, then sew the head to the middle of the blanket. Sew the arms on to the blanket, below and at either side of the head. Please follow the example of the top photo above for how to place the head and arms.

Aaaw, thank you so much for linking up your wonderful patterns at The Crochet Boulevard, that's exactly what I wanted to see in this collection! I especially love this doudou, makes me wanna make one (although there are no babies around)!

This is so sweet :)My sisters expecting her first so i'm trying to be creative, although i've never done this sort of thing before :/. I'm a bit convfused by some of the wording i.e an st..i hope that means stitch! I'm determined to get this right for the new arrival of the family in march :) thanks for the idea :D xx

I really, really like this. I made some squares on your pattern. You commented that you do not get the join on the rows to look neat. I did it by the following way: when your round is finished, join with a slip stitch and then slip stitch into the next stitch. In this way you are staggering the join (like a staircase) Just be sure that your 3ch matches the length of your other stitches. Thanx for sharing with us. Regards, nellie

Hi Louis, the instructions are in US terms. But please keep your eye out for my new doudou pattern that I'll be publishing soon. If you can wait a little while, you might like to have a look at it before choosing which one to make. I should be able to publish it sometime this week, hopefully.Aisha

Hi there... I just found this by pure chance and I loved it.... I'm from Mexico and we don't have that stuff in here (not that I've seen any, anyway, but I don't have any kids so I'm not an expert), but I have a dear friend who married a Swedish guy and they had a baby 2 years ago (and are expecting their 2nd for January) and he had one of these (just regular, not crocheted). He loved his tiger blanket.... so I think I will be making one of these for the new baby! What a wonderful idea, thanks for sharing your pattern for free (nowadays not many people do!) :) Bonjour du Mexique et bonne annee 2013 :)

I feel stupid asking this but I'm confused on the ear pattern rows 4&5 when the previous row has 12 stitches and row 4 tells me [sc2tog] rep to end (6 stitches)does this mean to skip every other stitch? Also row 5 [sc2tog] twice not sure what this means either when row 4 was suppose to have 6 stitches... sorry but this is too adorable to pass up I almost have the face done. my name is Robin and my email is robinluby@yahoo.com

Hi Robin, your question isn't stupid! Here's a link to a good explanation of sc2tog http://www.crochetme.com/glossary/single-crochet-two-together-sc2tog.aspx I hope it helps :)At the end of row 5 you will have an open end that you will close together before stitching the ears on to the head.

Hi here is my question..... Do you sew the head in the middle of the blanket flat (like the back sits on the blanket) Of do you do it like all the other patterns that I've found? I was gonna try my hand at yours because it beautiful and it looks more durable then others I've seen.Some of them look like the head is kind of like a bobble head. And I'm thinking after baby wear and tear and lots of washing that maybe the head would fall off :(Thanks for the GREAT free pattern and your feedback would be great also!!!

I find it easiest to start with the nose, which I embroider over one stitch in the middle front, just level with the colour change. Then do the eyes, one on each side about two rows above the nose, and lastly the mouth, using back stitch. If you have a good look at the second photo above, you should be able to work it out :)

Thank you for this pattern! So cute. I am having trouble with round 11. I keep doing it over but keep coming up with 34 stitches instead of 36. Maybe I'm reading it wrong? Should I just continue with the next round even though I have 2 stitches to the beginning of the last round or will that throw it way off? Thank you again!!

New to crochet, not complete beginner, but I am learning to follow written patterns rather than videos though. I'm on round 2 and it states 2 SC into each ST. Where is this done? Only into the chain I just made? Or into the chain and the magic loop? I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound ignorant, but I'm so excited to make this and want to do it correctly.

Can you remember me asking your permission to translate the pattern into Dutch and you gave it to me? This is how it turned out to be on my website: http://www.vonnshandmade.nl/?p=220 I used my own photo's during the process of making the teddy. As you can see I linked it to you. Thanks so much!

About Me

Hello and welcome to my blog. It's nice of you to pass by and if you feel like it, do leave me a little comment so this blog thingy can be a two-way communication, and I don't have the feeling that I'm blabbing on and nobody's listening.
I try to juggle a full-time job in communications, living life to the full with my family and enjoying crafts and cooking in my free time.
It's my sister Liz who taught me how to crochet when I was about 10 years old, and in March 2010, while recovering from surgery and thus with a bit more free time on my hands, I discovered amigurumi, Japanese for "crochet soft animals" and I've not stopped since! I also sew a bit, mostly making soft toys, which I offer as gifts to friends and family. My other interests are cooking, reading, learning, walking, crafting, and sharing my thoughts here on my blog.